


kairos

by MyJediLife



Category: Armageddon (1998), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Armageddon AU, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben wants to drill Rey, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Disasters, F/M, Natural Disasters, Sex, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Slow Romance, Soft Ben Solo, Space Flight, Space Opera, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, deep core drilling, oil rig, rey likes to drill things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:34:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyJediLife/pseuds/MyJediLife
Summary: Kairos (n.): the perfect, delicate, crucial moment; the fleeting rightness of time and place that creates the opportune atmosphere for action, words, or movement.
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34
Collections: Let's Go to the Movies - Reylo Readers & Writers Prompt Exchange





	kairos

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RebelJediPrincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelJediPrincess/gifts).



> This is the Armageddon AU I have always wanted to write, but never had time to. I hope you enjoy it.

[ ](https://imgur.com/a9MG7kO)

**Kairos (n.): the perfect, delicate, crucial moment; the fleeting rightness of time and place that creates the opportune atmosphere for action, words, or movement.**

**\------**

Rey Sands loved her job. She loved standing on the platform of the oil rig, looking out and seeing nothing but ocean surrounding them. She loved the crew she worked with. Sure, they were all roughnecks, rowdy and obnoxious men that loved nothing more than playing poker and drinking when they were off work. They were crude, rude and swore more than a sailor - but they were her family, and she wouldn’t want them any other way.

Her bosses - Han and Leia - were like the parents she had never had. Leia hadn’t had to think twice about hiring her, despite her being one of the few women working on an oil rig in the country. Han - well, he had been  _ Han _ about the whole thing. As long as she held her own, he was fine with her working on his rig. It was his name on the sign adorning it, after all, and he had gotten the reputation as the best oil driller in the world for a reason.

Right now, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing her boss and surrogate father, though. As the supervisor on the night shift, he had given her explicit instructions to not run two last night - yet something had told her if they did, they would hit paydirt. When they made ten million bucks for Solo Drilling, well, Han would have to give her a raise, right? Maybe she’d finally have enough to buy some property in Texas to start a rig of her own.

She tried not to think about the fact that the drill bit had broken after one hundred eighty feet.

Rey turned to seek out the one person who always understood her, stopping as she saw Han below on the platform with his golf clubs, taking great delight in teeing off towards the large boat full of protestors. One of his drives sent a golf ball careening towards the ship, and Han let out a shout as the ball collided with one of the windows on the bridge, laughing hilariously as the protestors shouted more.

“Shit,” Rey whispered as she caught sight of Finn approaching Han with his ever-present clipboard, a sour look on his face.

She was so fucked.

….

Thousands of miles away from the South China Sea, in Sunspot, New Mexico, Professor Luke Skywalker peered through the powerful 2.5-meter telescope’s viewer, pulling back and blinking several times before looking back through it in disbelief.

“Mara! MARA!” Luke’s voice was gruff as he called out to his wife and fellow Astronomy professor, and as she rushed over, looking harried and tired, Luke pointed to the telescope. “Have a look at that, sweetheart. Tell me I’m seeing things, please…”

“Oh, shit.” His wife was never one to mince words, and Luke winced as her green eyes came to meet his blue ones, concern etched all over her face. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it bounced excitedly as she turned sharply to head into their tiny shared office.

“I’ll get Obi-Wan on the phone. NASA needs to know about this ASAP.”

“I’ll send the data to you while you’re getting him on the phone. We’re going to need it,” Luke mumbled as he watched her walk away, feeling a sense of dread creep into his very soul.

...Like he had just discovered a giant asteroid careening straight for Earth - and he didn’t have a clue how anyone on the planet would survive the collision…

….

As the Deputy Administrator of NASA, Obi-Wan Kenobi - called Ben by everyone who knew him - did more paperwork than anything. It was, truly, the bane of his existence. A former astronaut who had commanded three missions to the International Space Station until an injury had forced him into an administrative position, Ben much preferred the silence of space than the din of life on Earth.

His phone buzzed on his desk, and he picked it up, scowling at it. “Yes, Miss Netal?” A grin came over his face as he answered his administrative assistant, “Mara Jade Skywalker? Put her through!”

Five minutes later, he was barking out orders in mission control, the best minds on Earth working furiously to compile all the data they had just received.

There was no way in hell he was letting his planet be destroyed by some planet-killing behemoth. There had to be something they could do, and he was the man to make sure it happened.

….

“Ben,” Rey said, a bright smile on her face as she stepped inside the tiny office which was occupied by the tall, broad man she had been in love with since she was fifteen.

“Sands? Rey? Get your ass out here, NOW!” Han’s voice rang out, and Rey let out a squeak, stepping behind Ben and trying to hide.

“You need to back me up,” she whispered as Ben sighed, shaking his head and running a large hand through his hair.

“What did you do now, Rey? You know it’s hard to stop Han when he is really pissed off…”

“I ran number two last night. We got a hundred and eighty feet before it chewed up the bit and we had to stop.”

Ben groaned as he half turned to look at Rey, shaking his head. “I should kill you myself before Han gets to you. Rey, do you know how much those bits cost the company? There’s a reason Han said not to run it!”

“I had a feeling,” Rey shrugged as Han yelled her name again, his voice coming from the vicinity of the tiny room she called home. “So I went with it. See you tonight for movie night?”

Ben let out a long sigh before nodding, muttering, “If you’re still alive then…” as he watched Rey shimmy out the tiny door and balance along one of the pipes as she tried to avoid his father. He could see Han outside the tiny room that Rey slept in, hammering on the door as Finn stood behind him, watching silently.

Shaking his head, Ben left the office and made his way to where his father stood, his dark eyes meeting Han’s as the older man turned to leave. “Do you think she’s in there, Han? I mean, I know I wouldn’t be able to stay asleep with a mad man pounding on my rickety door.”

Han levelled a gaze at him, and Ben rolled his eyes. “You’re distracting me so she can hide somewhere! Let me past!”

“Calm down, Han. We have more drill bits. The new one is probably already being put on, isn’t it? I saw Wexley and Dameron going up there earlier. Why don’t you go torture the Greenpeace protesters some more? That always puts you in a better mood.”

“That’s not the point, Benjamin! You always defend her! I gave that order for a reason, and Rey needs to learn that sometimes I know what I’m talking about! I made this company what it is from…”

“The ground up, yes. I know. Look, Han…” Ben started, stopping when his father spoke again.

“Can’t you ever call me Dad, kid? Didn’t I earn that title after all these years?”

“Maybe when you start acting like one, I’ll call you that. Instead, you choose to act like an overgrown manchild with the emotional age of an infant,” Ben continued, knowing that every second he kept his father occupied was another second for Rey to get a little farther away.

“Well, at least I was able to tell your mother I liked her enough to marry her! At this rate, you and Rey will never give us grandkids!” Han smirked and pushed past his only child, knowing he had hit a bullseye with his words.

Ben stood still for a few moments, his face red and his hands fisted at his sides, wondering if everyone but Rey knew he was madly in love with her, and had been for years. It was why he never dated, why he stuck around this hellhole oil rig, wooing clients with his proclivity for languages and legal jargon. 

He could be putting his law degree to good use in New York or Los Angeles, helping his mother run her firm - but no. He stayed put on an oil rig in the South China Sea - all so he could be near Rey Sands.

“Bastard,” Ben finally muttered before turning and disappearing into his office again. Rey would just have to handle facing his father on her own.

….

“Eighteen days, sir, by my calculations.”

Ben Kenobi looked at the printouts on his desk, shaking his head. “These calculations have to be wrong, Miss Tico. Please, do them again.” His eyes came up to meet Rose’s, and the look in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

“I’ve done the math fifteen times, sir. We have eighteen days before it hits.”

“Bloody hell,” Ben uttered, picking up the phone to call the President. They had to get approval to figure out how to stop an asteroid the size of Texas from hitting their planet - and he was the man who had to break the bad news to the leader of the free world.

Bloody hell, indeed.

….

“Fifty bucks says he fires her again,” Poe Dameron whispered to Armitage Hux as they watched Rey run nimbly across pipe walkways in her efforts to get as far away from their boss as possible.

“A hundred bucks says the grumpy Solo steps in and saves her ass by using legal speak again,” Hux countered, leaning against a railing with interest. “I am telling you, if those two would fuck - just once - he would be a lot more pleasant, and maybe Rey wouldn’t be so rebellious.”

Poe snorted. “They have to actually admit they like each other before they can fuck, Hux. Hey… that rhymed. Maybe I should start writing poetry in my spare time or something.”

“Shit, look busy. Here comes boss man…” Poe mumbled as he turned, fitting a wrench around a pipe fitting.

“You boys seen Rey?” Han asked as he came to a stop behind them, Finn still trailing after him.

Hux pointed his chin towards the tiny platform they called the crow’s nest. “Nope… haven’t seen her.” He looked pointedly at Han and Finn before grinning. “Go easy on her, boss.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Han muttered as he and Finn continued their climb upwards. Motioning to his second in charge to go around to the other door in the tiny room that was also used as a “quiet room” when needed, Han waited until Finn was in place before kicking the door in with a booted foot.

Rey was lying on the couch, one foot swaying in time to the music playing on her phone, the earbuds in her ears preventing her from hearing her boss as he entered the room. She opened one eye as his shadow blocked out the only light coming into the room.

A grin came onto her lips as she said cheerfully, “Morning, Han!”

“Get off that couch before I drag your ass outside, Sands.” Han levelled a look at her, and as she glanced at the back door, she saw Finn hovering there, slowly shaking his head.

_ Huh. The old man’s gotten smarter. I bet Hux told him I was up here, that wanker. _

Rey stood up, throwing her hands up in mock resignation. “Okay, okay… you’re pissed. I can tell.”

“No. You’ve seen me pissed before, Rey. This is a whole new level of pissed. I shut down number two last night. You knew that. I gave orders not to run it again.” Han stepped in front of the door, blocking it with his body as she stepped towards it. She was smaller than Han, but she didn’t think she could get past him without pushing him - and she really didn’t want to potentially hurt the old man.

“Oh, yeah… about that…” Rey said cheerfully, keeping the smile on her face as she watched Han’s reaction.

“Yeah… that. Look, when you got eight million bucks of your own cash on a contract, and it’s your ass in the fire, then you can make the call to drill whenever and however deep you want. Then you can do whatever the hell you want. But this is my company, my contract - and you will not disobey my orders again!”

“You’re right, Han, of course you are. Can we, maybe, talk about this later? After I’ve had some sleep, maybe?” Rey glanced back at Finn, who was trying to tell her with facial expressions that she could slip past him if she needed to.

“I need to hear five words from you, Rey. Right now. Five words.” Han took another step towards her, forcing her to take one back to keep the distance between them.

Rey smiled as she raised a finger with each word she spoke. “I’m. Really. Really. Sorry.” She stopped and looked at her four extended fingers for a moment before throwing up a fifth and adding, “Han.”

Han narrowed his eyes before counting along with each word he spoke next. “I’ll never do that again.” He thrust his hand, palm out, with five fingers extended towards Rey, who infuriated him with another smirk.

“I’ll never do that again, Han. I’m sorry. You’re right… I suck, and I will never disobey another order from you again.”

The sound of a helicopter approaching made Han wince, and he turned towards the door. “Get your shit together, Sands. I mean it this time!” He stepped out the door, and Rey  threw a saucy salute in his direction as his form faded away.

“Yes, sir.”

….

Rey couldn’t go to sleep yet, not when Ben was just below her room, speaking in rapidfire Japanese to the clients that had come to examine the rig. It was a thing of beauty, watching Ben Solo work. He talked with his hands, and Rey always watched with fascination, wondering just how those hands would feel against her skin.

She should just tell him. She should just look up at him during the movie they would watch tonight in his room, and she should kiss him, just to see if he would kiss her back. He had been the only man she had ever loved, and while her adoptive mother, Maz, had told her she would have other loves in her life - Rey hadn’t. Ben Solo was it for her, and she didn’t want to be anywhere he wasn’t.

Now, if only he felt the same way.

A loud crack and a shout from Hux, Dameron and Wexley made her cringe, and as she heard her name being screamed by Han from below, Rey knew she was fucked for sure this time. She sighed before running towards the noise, passing past Ben and their potential clients as he shepherded the men back towards their helicopter so they wouldn’t come to any harm.

A large plume of rock, oil and steam rose majestically into the sky, plummeting down towards them in the form of an oily rain as Rey grinned at Han as she came to a stop beside him. “Looks like we hit paydirt, huh, boss?”

“You’re fired, Sands. The pressure gauge on two is fried because of your little stunt, and we have a hell of a mess to clean up… I want you on that crewboat and ashore today.” Han was shaking in anger, and Rey just stared at him for a moment.

“Are you serious?” she asked her boss and surrogate father.

“As a fucking heart attack,” Han answered. “You just cost the company another chunk of money. Leia is gonna skin me alive when she hears about this…” Han muttered, glancing up at the black rain still falling all over the steel of the derrick, causing the walkways and decks to become skating rinks for all the men working on getting the plume of oil under control again.

“You can’t fire her, Han. She’s protected by the Union. She has rights as an employee.” Ben’s voice came to her ears, and he came to stand beside her, his hand reaching out to touch her lower back soothingly.

“Fine, then. She’s suspended until further notice. Get your shit and get on the crewboat, Sands. The sooner, the better.” Han gritted out, clearly annoyed that his son was defending the person who had just cost his business a considerable amount of money.

“You’ll need to give that to her in writing, and also a copy needs to go to the Union steward. That would be Hux,” Ben continued. “I also want to say that you’ll be sending your best driller away. Rey’s instincts are -”

“Rey’s instincts,” Han interrupted, “just cost us a lot of money, Benjamin.”

“It’s okay, Ben. Han… I quit. I’ll see myself off the rig. Thanks for the opportunity to get experience to use with another drilling company.” Rey turned and headed to her room, packing up her meager belongings in only a few minutes.

Ben and Han were arguing animatedly in the office as the crewboat pulled away from the rig, and all the crew stood waving at her as Rey stood at the railing, watching everyone she really cared about - and the man she loved - fade out of sight.


End file.
